Helping ARX Alliance secure investment for their cyber security platform

ARX Alliance is on a mission to help organisations to mitigate cyber security risk, strengthen their supply chain network, and navigate complex regulatory environments with ease. ARX has built a highly technical platform that is designed to simplify cyber governance and security for every user from micro business through to enterprise.  Through supply chain adoption, ARX is creating communities of companies that work together collectively to improve their cyber security. They have achieved great success while effectively managing their capital and bootstrapping their business from the very start.

Their online platform helps businesses and suppliers implement industry best practices, monitor and manage their supply chain risk in real time, and run internal and external scans to ensure their company infrastructure is watertight. The platform also consolidates standards, policies, assets and assessments all in one secure place.

ARX Alliance was founded by Andre Turville, who previously worked as an investment manager for a family office specialising in clean tech investments. Before being an investment manager, he worked operationally in the nuclear industry where he was introduced to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Energy and subsequently on cyber security. The turning point came when Andre became aware of the changing nature of cyber threats from a critical infrastructure perspective during the APPG meetings. Andre said:

Cyber security should be at the forefront of any C-suite’s mind. It's one of the major threats now in terms of business continuation and the ability for transitional technologies to be adopted. With over 60% of cyber breaches now coming through the supply chain, companies that were previously of less interest to hackers have become prime targets, with SME’s being particularly vulnerable as weak links to enter and exploit larger targets. Statistics have revealed that 63% of SMEs experienced a data breach in the last 12 months, 43% of all cyber attacks are targeted at small businesses and 60% of SMEs who are hacked go out of business within 6 months.

Like any successful start-up on a mission to grow, ARX Alliance has needed solid legal advice from the start for their platform to succeed. They have needed funding support to help build out their platform, employment advice to hire the right staff, SaaS agreements to make sure their data is protected and EMI options in place to help reward their staff. Since starting their platform, they’ve built a dedicated team which is split between the UK and Bucharest. Their platform now has its first users onboard, and their network benefits have started to take effect.

Brigitta Naunton, senior corporate solicitor, assisted with ARX’s initial equity investment. Brigitta helped convert a Future Fund convertible loan agreement and separately advised on new convertible loans and warrants with an existing shareholder and new funder. When asked what it’s like working with ARX Alliance, Brigitta said:

ARX has been a fantastic company to work with and it’s a been a pleasure to be part of their journey so far. I hope we can continue to work with ARX on lots of future projects as they expand and increase their success.

Andre talked about what it’s like working with Brigitta and said:

Brigitta’s always there, she listens and really understands us. In terms of turning things around quickly, it’s been fantastic. Speed was something that became very critical towards the end of the investment round. Bringing funding together when you've got a number of parties involved, especially keeping them happy, can be a stressful time. Brigitta was really supportive of that. We felt like she always had our best interests protected.

Our Enable Plan is perfectly suited for start-ups like ARX Alliance, providing them with access to our full range of legal services to meet their growing business needs. When asked what he thinks of our Enable Plan, Andre said:

The Enable Plan has been really useful for us. We’re always watching our burn because that early money is important to us as a start-up. We get high quality legal event advice that doesn’t compromise on quality. Also, having access to a distributed team who have previously worked at some very credible firms is great. Having access to that level of experience and expertise, but not having to pay traditional firm prices is excellent.

ARX Alliance has already received early recognition from institutional investors at some credible funds and the feedback from their early platform adopters has been strong. They’re about to take their next step in scaling the platform and they are looking at ways of expanding their offering, which will go beyond cyber and into Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) requirements for businesses and supply chains.